BY A FRIEND OF THE FARMERS. 45 



examining ; but in the crops the most delicate insect, if there, can be 

 detected. 



When first hatched, a sparrow's gizzard is small, but it quickly 

 increases in size, till by the time the bird is half grown — ' stump 

 feathered ' — it has become a large bag, very different from and much 

 larger than that of an old one. Up to this age, at which nestlings 

 have most food in them, there is no enlarged gullet or crop, and 

 the food goes straight into the gizzard ; so this must be examined to 

 find out what young sparrows have been fed with. As the bird 

 becomes feathered, the gizzard becomes smaller and harder ; by the 

 time it can fly the gizzard is like that of an old bird. Young 

 sparrows, like old ones, have most food in them towards evening ; 

 if taken early in the morning, little will be found in them, A watch- 

 maker's lens answers well to examine the food ; with it the skin of 

 the smallest caterpillar can be made out. 



Many people have rather hazy notions about the Wild Birds Pro- 

 tection Acts, and some may think that they forbid the killing of 

 sparrows during close time. Now the Act of 1880 states that the 

 section prohibiting the kiUing or taking of Wild Birds between 

 March i and August i, ' does not apply to the owner or occupier of 

 any land, or to any person authorized by the owner or occupier of 

 any land, kiUing or taking any wild bird on such land not included 

 in the schedule hereto annexed. ' The sparrow is not included in the 

 schedule, and therefore the only protection given by the Act to 

 sparrows is that it forbids killjjig or taking them on other people's 

 land without leave between March i and August i. The Act of 

 1881 (to explain that of 1880) simply legalizes the sale of birds 

 legally killed in close time, and puts the lark into the schedule. 



Wheat-ear — after the sparrow. 



